Backseat baby's life in the fast lane

MILLY Clayton may have been a week late coming into the world - but when she did she was in quite a hurry. So much so that mum Rachel McMahon had to give birth in the back seat of the car on the way to hospital.

MILLY Clayton may have been a week late coming into the world - but when she did she was in quite a hurry.

So much so that mum Rachel McMahon had to give birth in the back seat of the car on the way to hospital.

Rachel couldn't wait for her second baby when she was eight days overdue, but little did she know that 30 minutes after having a bath she would be giving birth in the back of her partner's Ford Escort.

The 30-year-old house care assistant had been relaxing at home in Timperley, near Altrincham, when she started having contractions in the bath.

Rachel wasn't unduly concerned as a few days earlier she had rushed to Wythenshawe hospital when she started having contractions, but after two nights on the maternity ward staff sent her away because it was a false alarm.

This time Rachel was determined to stick it out and not bother staff again until it was the real thing.

But 10 minutes after getting out of the bath Rachel decided she could wait no longer and hurried partner Terry, 38, into their black Escort.

A few minutes into the journey the contractions got so bad Rachel had to clamber into the back seat where her waters broke.

Scared

Though the frantic car ride to hospital took less than 10 minutes, in that time Rachel had gone into labour in the back seat.

Terry put his foot down but as he pulled up outside the maternity unit at Wythenshawe hospital Rachel gave birth on the back seat.

She said "I was quite scared and it got so bad that I couldn't sit in the front passenger seat.

"When my waters broke I knew I had to push and I just could not stop her from coming out. We must have looked a right sight at the traffic lights.

"As we pulled up outside the maternity doors the midwives heard me screaming and they came rushing out but Milly was already lying on the back seat."

And Rachel was delighted to find there was nothing wrong with her 8lb 6oz baby daughter, despite the unorthodox surroundings.

She added: "It was very uncomfortable and frightening on the back seat but it could have been worse.

"The car had not been starting a few days before and if that had happened on Wednesday I would have been in a right state."

Rachel and Terry, who works as a forklift truck driver at Manchester airport, have now returned home with their new baby daughter and have introduced her to her five-year-old brother, Patrick.